ACADIA '93:
The Annual Conference of the Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture

The ACADIA 1993 Annual Conference, "Education and Practice: The Critical Interface," will be sponsored by and held at the College of Architecture, Texas A & M University, College Station, Texas, October 14-17, 1993.

For many years, architects and educators have debated questions about the relationship between architectural education and the profession: How should education serve the profession? What obligations does the profession have toward education. What should be the objectives of architectural education? What should the practitioner expect of a new architectural graduate? At times, the pragmatic concerns of practitioners have clashed with the theoretical concerns of educators.

Those debates, in recent years, have included issues of computer -aided design. Virtually every phase of architectural design, and most courses in architectural education, are impacted by the installation of computer-aided design systems in offices and schools. Software and hardware vendors find themselves in the middle of a difficult but interesting, dilemma. While supporting systems optimized for professional practice, they also are asked to supply radically different systems for educational use.

Fortunately, many individuals work in both realms. For example, many faculty members, through their coursework, consultancies, or practices, maintain a strong interest in professional CAD systems. Likewise, there are many practitioners, seeing the shortcomings of popular CAD packages, who look to academia, among other places, for new directions in design software and hardware. There is increased professional interest in continuing education in CAD; academia surely will help provide the needed programs.

ACADIA '93 will bring together academicians, architects, researchers, software developers, and others interested in the interface between education and practice. They will discuss the myriad of opportunities and constraints that computer technology may provide to this interface. The discussions will also include such issues as:

1. -research in design theory
2. -the design process and its evolution
3. -curriculum development and implementation
4. -mechanisms for transmitting academic research to the profession
5. -the effect of academic research on the profession
6. -the influence of professional practice on academia
7. -and more

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